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Cheese Fondu

A baked cheese fondue made with milk, butter, breadcrumbs, cheese, eggs, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Cheese Fondu

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the base

  1. Boil the milk and stir in the melted butter.

  2. Pour the mixture over the bread-crumbs and soak for a few minutes.

  3. Add the grated cheese, egg yolks, and salt.

Prepare the tin

  1. Butter a souffle tin and tie a band of buttered paper around it to raise the sides.

Bake and serve

  1. Just before baking, fold in the whisked egg whites.

  2. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven until the center is firm, then serve.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Bread + cheesetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,130 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  5. Milk + cheesetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,426 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Egg whites
Whisked and folded in, they trap air and lift the fondue into a light, risen soufflé.
Egg yolks
Enrich the base and help set it into a custard-like texture as it bakes.
Bread-crumbs
Soak up the hot milk and butter, giving the mixture body and structure.
Grated cheese
Adds rich flavor and, as it melts, helps the mixture set with savory richness.
Milk
Forms the liquid that softens the bread-crumbs and keeps the base moist.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smooth, tender crumb.

The step that matters

Fold in the egg whites just before baking. Whisked egg whites hold air bubbles that expand in the oven to lift the mixture. If they are folded in too early or overworked, they deflate and the soufflé rises poorly and turns dense.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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